Mad Manatee Mentors 2013: CLOSED (exc/ Pop Tart bribes) (Page 150)

Control? What control? LOL   I remember teaching 5/6 graders (notorious farters) and just telling them all to laugh for 10 sec to get it out of their systems. They were a bit confused when the teacher TOLD them to laugh about it.

I'm pretty sure I've posted a few times here and there that I once woke myself up in class by farting.

I was not the only one I woke up.

Good thing it wasn't a class I was teaching

ATTENTION JOGO'ers:

It is that time of the week again.  Please post in my inspires what you have done.  If you have recorded in your logs or my inspires already, don't worry, it is all good.   I have no data or partial data from Darren, Chad, Brie, Ann Marie and Mike.  

The rare picture of me on a bike.  I dusted her off after 11 months last Saturday. 

Swimming is the best, fart away no-one really knows.  And you go faster. Fact.

I often focus on the "upstroke" or "backstroke" or "follow through" of the peddle stroke.  It is my sincere believe that if one leg is pushing, and the other is simultaneously pulling, both legs will work 1/2 as hard.  

I have gotten much faster this year, and use way less energy.  My stroke feels waaaay more efficient, but is no where near perfect.  I think a lot has to do with my increased cadence over last year.  

I don't always have a perfect push pull peddle stroke.  Tough to maintain that over the entire ride, but I really focus on it on those medium climbs, and also the really steep climbs.  When I focus on it, I know I'm a better climber.  This year, I have been focusing on staying in aero as long as possible, and then when I come out, I try not to stand when climbing.  It's amazing how much faster it is to climb while seated, and it feels much easier when focusing on the push pull of a stroke. 

I suspect your Achilles is more sore because when you focus on the "pull" of the upstroke (or follow through) - your foot is remaining more flat than it normally does.  This is causing the calf to be worked (and also the Achilles Tendon) more than normal. Where as when you don't focus on that, you are primarily using your quad muscle on the downstroking leg, which pretty much just lets your back leg free flow (and therefore doesn't use the calf and / or Achilles as much).  

I am not a cycling expert, nor am I a cycling coach - so take that for what it's worth.  I am very analytical, and I notice a lot of small details in almost everything I do, but especially when I try to change things up.  

Pulling back is maybe the better description--at the bottom of the pedal stroke.  It may not be related, but it sure seems suspicious that I have Achilles irritation when I focus on it.  ILT=isolated leg training.

I'm not quite sure why the ILT is causing the achilles issue. Somehow it's causing extra stress on it. However, I'm of the thought line that these aren't really that useful anyway, so would recommend stopping them for multiple reasons here. Take a look at the pedal force diagram here. Notice that on the upstroke (the left side) that the pedal forces are actually still going down. This is not really a problem. Take a look at the right side and into the bottom. This isn't fully to scale, but notice how much more massive they are. What you want to do is pedal far enough through the stroke with the one leg so that the other can take over. You don't need each leg to pedal an entire circle or even a big part of one. It's the *combined* output of the two that matters. And it doesn't even have to be a perfect circle at that. Just not huge drop offs.

Things like hills are great for developing this because they slow you down so quickly. Speed drops quite fast if you're power output is not maintained at all times. Gaps between the leg transfer become apparent fairly easily. To me, it feels like I should never really bottom out on the pedals, or stall at the bottom. The upstroke is only to keep a fairly nice feel going around the entire stroke as that helps with this continuity. But you're not really putting any real effort into it.

And Chad, it's "pedal" not "peddle". You're not selling anything here! 

I was afraid that was what it stood for and if it's anything like one-legged pedal drills ... DO NOT. DO NOT. DO. NOT.

One of the banes of my tri existence trying to eradicate that from the face of the Earth (that, and deliberate oxygen deprivation while swimming).

They do not help. They can and do injure.

There's only one thing you really need to focus on. Push the pedal down and try not to have a dead leg on the other side (but even that's not so important).

And ride lots.

In that diagram, is the 'flat' line the angle of the pedal?  Ie on the left, on the up stroke, your toe is slightly pointed down?

I was afraid that was what it stood for and if it's anything like one-legged pedal drills ... DO NOT. DO NOT. DO. NOT.

One of the banes of my tri existence trying to eradicate that from the face of the Earth (that, and deliberate oxygen deprivation while swimming).

They do not help. They can and do injure.

There's only one thing you really need to focus on. Push the pedal down and try not to have a dead leg on the other side (but even that's not so important).

And ride lots.

I want to do a Google hangout with the Manatee's.  To do this, you need to have Google Plus (free).  If you don't know, this is Googles version of Facebook.  

Get Google Plus (super easy to have if you have a Gmail Account), then look for me and add me to your circles.  I will see it, and then add you to my circles... (creating one just for Manatee's).  

We can then pick a day and time to make this happen.  

Oh yeah baby - this is going to be sooooooo cool!  Can't wait to hear all the accents! 

You need this. Already said consistency was a problem, so tough luck on that one! 

Originally posted by jobaxas

Originally posted by TriAya

Originally posted by bcraht

Originally posted by brigby1

Originally posted by cdban66

Originally posted by bcraht I learned a couple things on my bike and run today.  First, in the past couple weeks, I have finally started to 'get' the push and pull of my foot in my shoe when pedaling.  It definitely makes climbing easier.  The second thing I have learned, unfortunately, is that I think focusing on that aggravates my Achilles...  When I first injured it, I had recently done some ILT, so I wonder if pulling up on the pedal is the precipitating factor.  Doesn't totally bode well for my cycling... 

Ouch, please be careful. I know how much you fought through the hurt, and I hope you don't go back there.

I'm trying to picture this better. Trying to figure out what part of this is aggravating the achilles. What do you mean by "pulling up"? The farthest around I really try to do something useful is into the bottom of the pedal stroke. Just far enough for the other leg to take over with its push. The back part just kind of comes around.

Also, what's ILT? Can't seem to remember.

Pulling back is maybe the better description--at the bottom of the pedal stroke.  It may not be related, but it sure seems suspicious that I have Achilles irritation when I focus on it.  ILT=isolated leg training.

I was afraid that was what it stood for and if it's anything like one-legged pedal drills ... DO NOT. DO NOT. DO. NOT.

One of the banes of my tri existence trying to eradicate that from the face of the Earth (that, and deliberate oxygen deprivation while swimming).

They do not help. They can and do injure.

There's only one thing you really need to focus on. Push the pedal down and try not to have a dead leg on the other side (but even that's not so important).

And ride lots.

Aw Yanti you know I love a hypoxia breathing set . You never know in life when it may be useful to hold your breath . Actually we don't do much of this these days breathe 6 with pull is the most and I just breathe when I want. Rebel

Big dif between breath control sets (which is mostly what piglet Johnny does) and full-out hypoxic training, which he forces on you guys only occasionally

And your Google ID is....

Sorry.  You cannot leave (for 30 days).  We are calling you out for accountability and consistency.  Get out there and give me 30 minutes of something today.  Tough Manatee Love!!  Quitting is not permitted. 

That flat line is the pedal. Try not to get too into details of the drawing. The main idea is that the pedal force is much greater on the downward part of the stroke.

Swimming is the best, fart away no-one really knows.  And you go faster. Fact.

I think one of the commentators of the article said it best.. "even those who believe themselves to be pulling up turn out to be merely unloading the rising pedal rather than pulling up on it."  

That is mostly my goal... making it a little easier on the down stroking pedal, and when I do that, I feel way more efficient. (I was tired, I know the difference between pedal and peddle..)  LOL  

Chad Musgrove